Darling of the Teacher
by BlueMoonsAndTooSoons
Summary: Harry Potter has been hired to teach as the new D.A.D.A. teacher in Ginny's last year at Hogwarts. The have to secretly maintain their relationship and risk expulsion or being fired, respectively.


**Hello! I wrote the following one-shot while I was sick with strep throat, so if you'll excuse the desperate feel to the whole thing, I would be much obliged. It merely came to me last night, and I do feel I should explain some aspects of it. I understand that Harry was decided on as only being an occasional speaker for the D.A.D.A., but that didn't really have the same quality to it, so I instead made it so that he was hired. I would also venture that he is the youngest ever professor at Hogwarts, but I thought the board might make an exception in his case because he is A.) Such a good teacher and B.) has so much experience in the field itself. Anyway, that's just where it stands. Besides all that, this is fan fiction, and the fiction changes depending on the fan. So it the characters are a smidge OOC, my apologies. I didn't really have the presence of mind to really study the character for accuracy, nor do I assume anyone does that. So allow the characters their spontaneity and allow me the pleasure of your reviews. **

**Disclaimer: On Farm Planet, where I come from, you get your name from what you do and what you like. My name is Writing Harry, on occasion that I write so much and because I like Harry Potter so much. However, I clearly don't own any of it. **

Ginevra peeked out the door nervously, hoping no one was there, so no one would see. No such luck, as two students rushed by the door laughing over a joke. She barely had barely pulled her head back in before they saw her. Before they saw her exiting the office of a certain Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

The teacher chuckled from behind her and pulled her back into the office. "What if I lent you my cloak of invisibility?" Harry asked, smiling at his best friends little sister.

"How would I explain my possession of it if someone asked? No, I'll just do it the simple way." She smiled up at her favorite teacher. "I really have to leave though. It's nearly dinner time."

"Oh bullocks, I do too. Headmistress McGonagall wanted me to give a speech." He looked back at his desk with some hesitation where some notes lay, completely forgotten for the time Ginny had been there.

"I'd better let you finish them then. Your first year as a professor at Hogwarts; you wouldn't want to disappoint with a boring, thrown-together-at-the-last minute speech." She smiled up at him, gently teasing him.

"But it will be a 'thrown-together-at-the-last-minute' speech because I just spent most of the minutes leading up to it with you." He leaned into her, until their foreheads were touching.

Shivering ever so slightly at the touch, Ginny responded: "Maybe you should stop spending so much time with you're students."

"Even if said student is my favorite student?'

"For what reason would she be your favorite?" Ginny asked sardonically.

"I love her." He dropped his light tone to become the serious man he was. The banter of the moment before had become irrelevant as he searched her eyes for her answer.

"She loves him too." She whispered. "She loves him so much, she's going to leave now so he can work on his notes for the speech tonight." She was still speaking in a very serious and hushed tone, but her eyes danced.

"This might be a good idea. But will he see her tonight, after dinner in this office?"

Ginny was silent for a moment. "Maybe. It depends on what the girls want to do after we eat."

Harry Potter nodded, knowing he would wait in the office for hours tonight regardless of her answer. She knew he would always be here. All she had to do was come.

"I'll see you after dinner, Harry." She smiled.

"I'll see you after dinner."

"Ginny, the Headmistress asked me to tell you to come to her office after dinner tonight. She said it was important." Susan Sylthn told Ginny quietly in their dorms while they prepared for dinner.

"Thanks Susan. I wonder why." Actually, she wasn't wondering. Her heart was already racing. While exiting Harry's office, she had bumped into Ms. McGonagall

who demanded an explanation for her presence. After much stuttering, Harry came to her rescue. However, his rescue included telling the truth.

"Probably a head meeting. I heard from June Oliver in Hufflepuff House that their head was called to see the Headmistress too." Susan guessed apathetically. She was only a 5th year to Ginny's 7th, and therefore practically uninvolved with her house head in everyway. She only delivered the messages she was given.

Ginny didn't respond, and just nodded her head. Susan left the room then, and the youngest Weasley returned to her tumultuous thoughts.

Entering the great hall, she looked immediately to Harry, who was sitting in his teachers chair in the front. She raised her eyebrows in question, but he couldn't tell what she was doing so he simply shrugged. Sitting down to eat, her nerves easily calmed by some of the delicious food in front of her. She was a Weasley through and through after all.

When Harry approached the podium to give his speech, Ginny watched carefully and with rapt attention. As he talked, she couldn't help but notice all the comments that seemed to be about her.

"I'm looking forward to being with you this year…

"My presence here is just for you…"

"I will teach you great things, even if some of you already know what they are…"

"You are so important to me…"

"…my future depends on you…"

Ginny couldn't help that she was blushing. Even when he took these phrases and turned them into a completely appropriate professors speech, they still tickled her heart strings the way they did when he said them to her alone. He was good about not looking at her through most of the speech, but occasionally their eyes would meet and both would smile knowingly.

It was then she was reminded of her meeting with Ms. McGonagall that evening and she looked over at the headmistress. Minerva was looking at them with a quiet, disapproving air.

When dinner ended, she noticed that Harry and Ms. McGonagall left together talking in a very heated way. So she stalled and hung about for a little while, talking to a few girls before making the dreaded climb to the headmistresses office.

"There you are Ginevra. I was beginning to think you'd never come." Ms. McGonagall said, tapping her long fingers on her desk. "I need to speak with you and Mr. Potter if you don't mind."

"Of course, ma'am." Ginny nodded and came forward, finally seeing Harry from where he had been standing behind a stack of books.

"What did you think of my speech?" Harry whispered to her quietly.

"Brilliant, but not the time." She responded quietly.

"What was that?" McGonagall asked.

"Nothing…" Harry said. "It was nothing."

"Very well, Mr. Potter. Now, I am aware that you two are seeing each other in secrecy. May I ask why you have to keep it a secret?" She looked at Harry first, who blushed slightly on his neck.

"Because it is against the Hogwarts teacher's code to have affairs with a student." He said matter-of-factly.

"That is correct, Mr. Potter. Now Ginevra," Ms. McGonagall turned her attention to Ginny. "Were you aware of this rule?"

"I was ma'am. We had discussed it at length."

"I see. You are aware then that the activity you are engaging in could result in your expulsion from the school and Mr. Potter could loose his job here?" The Headmistress tilted her head slightly and peered at the young woman in front of her.

Ginny had a slightly panicked look on her face, so she glanced over at Harry, who was perfectly calm. The sight of his ease calmed her, and she responded with the affirmative "yes."

"Alright, so you both understood the implications of what you were doing. I know you haven't done anything serious or anything that would cause alarm. I'm aware of the peculiarity of the situation, as you two started seeing each other before… well, before the war when you both were in school." She sighed as she realized what she was saying, and Ginny saw Harry grin just a little bit in victory.

"Here are my ground rules, children…"

"I'm a professor, McGonagall." Harry smiled.

"Don't remind me or I might just change my mind." She snapped. "Anyway, Ginny you must be in your house by curfew, no exceptions. I also don't want the students to know about it, as it might cause unrest with their parents and I don't want that. I'll make sure the other professors don't hear about it either, but it is up to you to stop rumors from circulating. And I don't want to see any public displays of affection, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." The couple in question answered in unison.

"Very good."

"Thank you very much, Headmistress McGonagall." Ginny said quietly.

"This conversation never happened. And if I discover that you two engage in any carnal activity, you will both be expelled and I will tell your mother, Miss Weasley." She glared at them intensely, but Harry just smiled.

"Technically, won't I be fired?"

"I don't know when you got to cheeky, Mr. Potter, but it needs to stop." She snapped, even as a slight smile appeared on her face. It was no secret Harry had been her favorite student, and she looked upon him as a mother would her own child. Of course it helped that he was such an important figure in the world of magic. Not that anyone would ever admit that his fame helped him in many things. They would rather say it was because of his immense talent as a wizard and leave it at that. Surely, even if he had not been the Boy Who Lived, they would have given him the same treatment, because he was always that good.

"Now get going, both of you. Curfew is 9:00, Ginevra."

"We have an hour." Harry smiled. "Come with me."

"Where will we go?" Ginny asked nervously, knowing that McGonagall was only a few steps away, and probably listening to the conversation in full.

"No where special, but it will be once you're there."

"You are really uncharacteristically exciting tonight." Ginny took his hand cautiously, but the door closed behind them and she felt much calmer knowing the older, wiser woman's eyes weren't staring at her anymore.

"After the debate and conversation I just had with our Headmistress, I refuse to let this moment pass without taking advantage of it." He stopped for a second as if considering something, but clearly thought better of it and walked on.

"What was that?" She asked, curious.

"I was mentally debating the merits of waiting to kiss you in my office or here in the hallway. I've decided to wait."

"That's nice." Ginny said quietly, feeling her heart rate accelerate.

They walked down the hall in silence, but with speed. The moon was out now and shone through the windows of the hall way they were currently in, bathing everything with a soft blue glow. Harry was admiring his companion in the moonlight when she suddenly turned her head to see him staring at her. She smiled slightly when she met his gaze, but turned her attention back toward her walking quickly, leaving him free to look at her undisturbed.

Harry on the other hand was thinking about all the change this young lady had brought into his life. They were subtle things, like making him laugh more often, and helping him see things in a new light. None of which ever really occurred to him as things that ever needed to change until after she started changing them. Then there were the bigger things; She helped him through his recovery after the War, and it was Ginny who lifted him up and made him feel like a man, even when he felt small and ridiculous. He had Ron, yes, and he had Hermione as well. But they didn't do the same things for him that Ginny did, and for that he was grateful.

When they reached the door of his office, they just stood there for a second, starring at it. This wasn't a new activity, as she had seen him once or twice in the school year already and it was only the 3rd day of the new term. However, this time had a magical feel to it, and while that feeling is expected in a school for witch craft and wizardry, it was unique to this occasion. Staring at the door, neither one wanted to ruin the moment that was before them, and neither one dared accelerate it beyond it's prescribed pace.

"Well, Professor Potter, here we are." Ginny remarked quietly in an attempt at light hearted bravado. In reality she felt timid about the approaching moment because it was going to be nothing more than a moment of bliss.

"Yes, here we are." He released her hand for a second to open the door, but once it was opened, he used both hands to draw her into the room with him. Closing the door with her back, he drew closer to her and closer to her until the door was shut and he was pressed against her.

The simply breathed for a while, inhaling the essence of one another gently, and reveling in their little moment.

"So what did you think of my speech?" He asked, his eyes suddenly twinkling with mischief.

"Brilliant, as I said before." She was thoughtful for a second before continuing. "I do think it was rather risky though."

He seemed to understand her meaning. " I was thinking of you when I wrote it. There was naturally going to be some referential to the person in my mind."

"What did you talk about with Ms. McGonagall in her office before I got there?" She asked reasonably.

"I explained to her the situation and made her see reason." Harry Potter didn't even blink. "She wasn't as upset about it as she would lead you to believe."

Their noses were touching now, on and off, just brushing one another ever so slightly.

"I think I know why…" Ginny mused.

"And why would that be?" Harry reached up to touch her face gently and endearingly.

"She was in love once too. She knows how it is when two people feel an unremitting desire to be with one another, no matter their circumstances or places in life."

"Would you happen to know who was the object of her affections at any point in her life?" Harry asked.

"I won't even pretend to know. I believe Minerva McGonagall had a romantic past more exciting than even our own." Ginny moved her hand up to Harry's and held his hand against her face. He moved his head into hers and nuzzled her cheek.

"I think our romantic adventure was pretty exciting." He suddenly stopped being affectionate and pulled away. He was thinking about the wars again and Ginny understood his pain.

"I wish it didn't have to have happened in the way it did. If it would have saved you all this pain, I wouldn't have wished for any of it to have happened at all." She said honestly.

"No… if I hadn't gone through all that pain, I couldn't really enjoy all this happiness. I wouldn't have you in the same way and I wouldn't appreciate you like I do." He took her hand, but didn't cling to it like he used to, when he was so distraught he couldn't even think. Now he simply touched it, and he still maintained clarity in his thoughts. Ginny knew he was getting better. "I need you Ginny."

"Don't you think it's ironic;" She mused. "the teacher needing the student? Yet somehow, I feel like this is a much better way for things to be."

"I don't mind it. Besides, you won't be a student forever. You graduate at the end of this year, and then you'll be mine completely and I could marry you and never deal with a curfew ever again." He touched her fingers, each one in succession, but when he came to her ring finger he stopped and rested his own fingers there. It was the first time he had ever mentioned marrying her, so Ginny felt giddy and light, whereas Harry was feeling extremely nervous.

"Harry, that's very sweet…" She was looking down at her lap, pinkness rushing over her cheeks and consuming the freckles on her smooth skin.

"But you don't agree?" He asked. She couldn't find an emotion in the words, so she answered with her own delicately.

"Do you think I would risk expulsion if I didn't agree? I'm looking forward to graduation for the same perks it will allow. Yet right now, I almost enjoy the delight of secrecy and the certain advantages of the situation. I'd rather not spend my time with you pining over the future." She kissed his cheek.

"You always were one for the moment." He took her hand now if full, rather than lingering over it like a gentle breeze might linger over a pond.

"I do my best thinking spur-of-the-moment." Ginny laughed silently.

It was then that Harry had enough of looking at her and devouring every detail about her with his mind. He brought his hand up to her neck and pulled her closer. They breathed just for a second before he leaned in only barely enough to set his lips on top of hers. Eyes closed, they conducted the rest of their physical conversation in the darkness of contact and desire.

She put her hands on his shoulders gently, using the slightest of forces to pull him nearer. His response was automatic, applying that same force to her ready lips and pressing as close to her as he could. It came to the point that he didn't know where he stopped and she began. All he knew was bliss, and all he knew was Ginevra Molly Weasley; the girl in his arms, and this was the girl he would never let go.

Ginny could feel every organ in her body, every muscle and every fiber of her existence, melting into a puddle. All she could tell was that the puddle was pressing it's self onto Harry, and Harry was taking it gladly. It wasn't perverse or carnal, but a pure transfer of love to another person who was in turn transferring their own into the other person. It was a sustentation of life that went both ways.

He was holding her, but now he started pulling her down to the sofa near by, down onto the soft, velvet office sofa. They sat, but couldn't stay in the position for long as the gradually building force of both members of the embrace was building to quickly and someone was going to fall backwards. In anticipation of the moment, they both made the gradual decent down.

Harry's hands never roamed, they only held her close. His lips would occasionally travel over her face, but he was gentle and sweet, giving Ginny a sense of delicate and romantic pleasure. Every movement was peaceful and had it's own special meaning. Eventually though, they simply stopped kissing one another and instead found solace in the simple, understated language of embracing.

"Ginny, you do know how much I love you." Harry said quietly, after they had been lying there for some time.

"I do." She answered, satisfaction in her voice, tinged with the girlish quiver of innocence. "And you know how I respect and admire you."

Harry grimaced. "Why does that sound like something a student would say to a teacher?"

"Perhaps because a student just said it to her teacher." Ginny whispered mockingly. "But, the student happens to be madly in love with her teacher, so I suppose it's all right."

"I suppose it is." He planted another, gentle kiss on her forehead, and she pretended to snuggle closer, even though she was already as close as she could be.

They were quiet now, for only a few minutes when they heard an owl coo from somewhere down the hall or in an adjacent room. Mistaking it for a clocks chime, Ginny sat up hurriedly to look at the clock. Harry noticed it was only about 8:30 and started to pull her back down. She came willingly, but only to explain.

"I really should go. I still have to get ready for bed, and I have homework." Her fingers floated above his face, pushing back stray hairs until she could see the infamous scar on his forehead.

"One more minute perchance?" He pleaded.

"One more kiss, but I don't guarantee a full minute."

About five minutes later, Ginny snuck out of his office.


End file.
